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Last Day of February! One More Little Contest:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

It's Leap Day! Rare, unique, random.... PERFECT.

I tried to explain the idea of Leap Year and Leap Day to Noah this morning on the way to preschool. I don't think he got it.

That's okay. The next time it comes around, he'll be 8, and he'll likely be totally enchanted with the concept by then. And we can do crazy things to celebrate, like make a frog cake ('cause they leap, get it?) and have jumping contests and other fun things.

For now though, we'll just keep it low-key. I'll just host my last little "Let's Fight the Winter Blahs" contest.

Up for grabs today, a cute little painting/collage I created awhile back, one of a series of them I did as Christmas gifts for loved ones (and for myself, because lets be honest, if it's cute enough to make as a gift, then I want one or six for myself. I'm kinda selfish that way.)

This particular painting encourages everyone in your household to do something we should all do more of:

Eat your veggies.

I mean, I EAT my veggies. I love them. But I surely don't eat as many of them as I really should to make my body ecstatic and powerful.

This little cute painting is small-- 6" by 8", and is a 3D amalgamation of stretched canvas and actual fake carrot, with hand-inked/cut letters on watercolor paper. Around the border of the painting there are additional words, stating, "To get your vitamins and minerals to grow healthy and strong..."

Kinda a cute little thing.

Okay, I do need to confess--- this little project was one that I came up with EONS ago...

and painted EONS ago. Like, 2003. Note the artist signature:

Maiden name. Year. Yeah.

But listen-- this little painting is NOT just some junk I'm trying to ditch. I had this and its twin packed carefully away in a box of things I wanted to save as The Perfect Gift Someday. And I'm a "special things" hoarder (if you know me at all from this blog, you know this. I hoard gift cards for AGES, waiting for the ideal Perfect Moment to use them. I hoard special photos for ages til the Perfect Day comes to share them on my blog. It's weird. I don't know why I do it. I just keep Special Things far too long, waiting for Perfect Moments.)

So. Here are these twin Eat Your Veggies paintings, wrapped and preserved and NOT BEING ENJOYED. For NINE years. ???!

So I took one of them and hung it in my kitchen. Happy!!

And I decided I needed to let the other one go, and send it into the blogosphere. Someone out there might love it as much as I do. Right???

Thinking back to the whole series of these paintings I did for that Christmas, I remember doing a tomato one with the words, "To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to, Let's call the whole thing off.." behind it. I did a corn one that went with the "eat your veggies" series. I did a bowl of oatmeal (painted, not 3D) with the phrase "oatmeal days", an homage to Robert Fulghum's essay on Winter Blahs. I did a few others I can't remember... But I LOVED doing them. I loved it.

It's been ages since I've painted.

Hm...

ANYway.

Here's the deal. If you guys can forgive that this is an ancient piece of my art, I'd love to offer it to a commenter on this post. To enter, just:

1. Leave a comment (anonymous is okay, if you leave your name/email in the actual comment)

2. Tell me something on your to-do list for Spring

3. Tell me one thing you enjoy about this blog o' mine (I could use some feedback, since some changes are on the horizon!)

And on Friday morning, at 10:00am, I will choose a random entry as the winner. Winner will get this Eat Your Veggies painting and a bag of Cadbury MiniEggs. (because clearly that supports the message to eat veggies. Right? RIGHT???? Or because they're my favorite candy, and spring= Cadbury MiniEggs in my world.)

Fun!To do this Spring! Ah how I can not wait for Spring! Taking a few days off of work and the kids will go with G&G so I can clean clean clean and get ready to do all the projects we want to do, such as reworking the backyard to be more playful for the kids, a fire pit for the the parents, prep the garden start seeds, just thinking of the outdoors so much right now so many things I want to do this Spring.What I enjoy about your blog -I love all the photos and great ideas and your down to earth tell it like it is life (cause really who can't relate to that and feel good your not alone) and of course your super cute kids!Looking forward to the changes how exciting!

That. Is. Cute. I wouldn't call it old, it's vintage, right?! (I can't believe 2003 was nine years ago. Sheesh!) So, something on my to-do list for Spring: eat more veggies (haha) and hem my stinkin' bedroom curtains. In my defense, it's only been a year and a half... Something I love about your blog is your writing style and and the overall layout. It's clean, simple, and easy to navigate.

So much to say about this post... 1st, regarding your comments about trying to explain Leap Year to Noah... It made me laugh! All I could think about was, if you really want to confuse the sweet little guy (even at 8 yrs. old), you could attempt to explain "Leap Year" on the Jewish Calendar (which is based on the cycles of the moon, rather than the cycles of the sun). When Leap Year occurs on the Jewish Calendar it has a whole extra month!

2nd, I got so excited when I saw your "eat your veggies, carrot" picture... I don't know if you remember, but you gave me the identical piece of your art, shortly after you made it. I think it was when you were living with us. I remember how much you loved everything about that course and all that you created in it.

I did not know that the carrot had a "twin" or that you did a whole series... That is very cool. It has been up in every kitchen of mine, ever since you gave it to me (way back when). However, since the latest move, last summer, I have yet to find appropriate wall space for it... so it remains safely packed away, until I can.... Which, is the perfect segue into the "contest entering part of this comment/post...

The 2 top things on my Spring (and pre-Spring) To Do list is to go through the boxes of stuff that I have to send to you, for Noah, and finally get some of it (and some of the other "goodies" that I have for you & your special little family)off in the mail to you; and the 2nd is to get the rest of the way unpacked and truly settle into this cute little house that we have come to love.

As far as your blog, I can not offer suggestions for change, nor can I tell you what I like best, because I LOVE absolutely EVERYTHING about it... Always have and I imagine I always will

2. I love that you are so candid about your life. I have really gotten to know you through your writings and learned that we have a lot in common. PLUS, I love all the photos you take; it really breaks up the monotony of long journal entries.

Plans for spring- encourage my 4 year old to garden with me. We have a tiny backyard and I love outside but am not interested in yard work. I'm trying to broaden my interests in this project and educate my dude.

What I love about your blog...everything...random thoughts and your cutie pie kids.

What do I want to accomplish this spring? There are a couple of things that I really want to do. It depends on whether or not I am able to go back to work. If I can, than I would love to be able to find a new position, something that will challenge me. If that's not possible, than I want to sort through all of my scrapbooking things and purge those that haven't been used in forever!

Now, I absolutely love your blog! But my favorite thing is the pictures. You do some absolutely beautiful things!

Hmmm... I DO need reminders to eat my veggies, since I rarely do (currently, my best way of eating veggies is to eat salsa, so that counts, right?!?), and that IS such a cute little piece of art. Well, I'm sure I won't win this one, either, but what the hey-

This spring? I think I'd like to finally get the "junk" room organized- including, perhaps, my filing cabinet, which has just become a catch-all of all sorts of papers and things. Oh, and my taxes- I'd like to get my taxes done!

Shoot, I'm sad I missed this! It's super cute. But I love that you do this, save things for perfect days. I love your blog, period. Exclamation point :) But I do love seeing the "behind the scenes" of some of your photo shoots.